Israeli Microbot Fires Pencil-Sized Rockets to Stop Bombs

This teeny little robot is the size of a toy truck — just 50 square inches. It’d be cute, almost, if it wasn’t armed with “dozens” of eight-inch rockets.

The world’s militaries have been gun-shy about letting armed robots roam around the battlefield; they’re always a danger the machines will malfunction and ruin some pesky human’s day. But Rafael, Israel’s state-owned arms-maker, is betting that its miniature Pincher robot might be allowed into warzones as a tool for neutralizing roadside bombs.

According toDefense News’Barbara Opall-Rome each of the Pincher’s micro-munitions is ” a self-contained micro rocket with safety ignition, motor, warhead and safety fuse.” The “pyrophoric warhead combusts once ignited to burn upon target penetration,” which supposedly “eliminat[es] collateral damage often caused by traditional explosive systems.”

“Instead of detona­tion, where the speed of the shockwave is ul­trasonic, we developed a special material that causes deflagration, where the speed of the shockwave is subsonic and does not cause sig­nificant damage,” Rafael’s Ram Fabian tells Opall-Rome.

The Pincher has a range of 100 feet, maybe. An onboard camera looks for bombs, and helps remote operators aim the pencil-missiles.